2014: Seeing Knowing: Vision, Knowledge, Cognition, and Aesthetics

What is the connection between vision and knowledge? Scholars, artists, and cognitive scientists working at the intersection of perception, cognition, representation, and design came together to discuss the history of vision and its role in early human social organization.

For a list of speakers, visit here.

2012: The Importance of Being Playful

How does play shape the brain and how does the brain shape play?
What is the relationship between play, aesthetics and creative cognition? Play behavior is not only the origin of our cultural ingenuity, but is intimately linked to the shape and function of that most ingenious feature of our biology, our brain.

For a list of speakers, visit here.

2009: Reflections on Mirror Neurons – Mirrors of Reality

How do we read the mind of others? How and why do we imitate their actions? Are there specialized brain neurons – the mirror neurons – that allow us to this?

For a list of speakers, visit here.

2008: Many Faces of a Face

This conference took a deep look into the face of our elemental identifying marker, exploring what faces can tells us about ourselves.

For a list of speakers, visit here.

2007: The Neurobiology of Love

Which areas of the brain become engaged when we fall in love and when we view our lovers, or when we make love? Leading neurobiologists address the heady topic of love.

For a list of speakers, visit here.

2006: Flavors of Experience

Scientists & Artists look at how and why the brain responds to such things as gourmet food, fine wine and aromatic perfumes. As human beings, memories are enhanced by our senses. The experience of a gourmet meal is one that is long remembered. The perfume of a passing stranger recalls the embrace of an old love. What brain pathways do these products activate and how are these pathways connected to the brain’s memory system?

For a list of speakers, visit here.

2005: Empathy in the Brain and in Art

Empathy, one of the most extraordinary feats of the human brain, plays a major role in social and artistic communication. We empathize with others and often respond with emotion to their condition. Artists, photographers, actors and film directors use our capacity to empathize to give their works heightened emotional appeal. But what are the neurological foundations of empathy, and on what specialized brain cells and systems does it depend?

For a list of speakers, visit here.

2004: Emotions in Art and the Brain

This conference explored that role of emotions in the creation and consumption of art, both of the artist and the beholder.

For a list of speakers, visit here.

2oo3: The Neurology of Harmony: Art, Architecture, Music

What is art, why has it been such a conspicuous feature of all societies, and why do we value it so much? The subject has been dicussed at length without any satisfactory conclusion. This is not surprising. Such discussions are usually conducted without any reference to the brain, through which all art is created, including morality, law and religion, depends upon, and obeys, the laws of the brain. We are still far from knowing the neural basis of these laws, but spectacular advances in our knowledge of the visual brain allows us to make a beginning in studying the neural basis of visual art.

For a list of speakers, visit here. 

2002: The Pleasure of Art as Sensed by the Brain

What is art, why has it been such a conspicuous feature of all societies, and why do we value it so much? It is only by understanding the neural laws that dictate human activity in all spheres – in law, morality, religion and even economics and politics, no less than in art – that we can ever hope to achieve a more proper understanding of the nature of man.

For a list of speakers, visit here.